This invention relates to interactive entertainment network systems, such as interactive television (ITV) systems, and to methods for operating such interactive entertainment network systems.
Movie and television audiences are very familiar with previews, those one to three minute video clips that reveal highlights of upcoming shows. The preview clips, which are known as xe2x80x9ctrailersxe2x80x9d in the film industry, are important promotional tools. They play on viewer emotions to entice viewers to see the program. The trailers are carefully crafted by the studios to present the most compelling sales pitch for watching a program. Given the importance of trailers, it is not uncommon for a studio to allocate a significant portion of the entire program budget to the production of a short trailer.
In the newer, interactive television (ITV) environment, it would be advantageous to provide trailers to attract potential viewers into renting a program over the interactive network. ITV systems have a single computerized control center, known as the xe2x80x9cheadendxe2x80x9d, which interactively communicates with multiple distributed television units located in subscriber homes. The headend provides traditional forms of programming, such as the familiar cable and broadcast programs, as well as newer forms of programming, such as video-on-demand. In the video-on-demand (VOD) mode of operation, a viewer can order video movies directly from his/her own television set. Indeed, in a full interactive entertainment network system like this invention, it is contemplated that a viewer will be able to order xe2x80x9con demandxe2x80x9d movies, video games, television shows, and other video content programs from their home.
Video trailers would be particularly useful for the ITV video-on-demand mode to entice viewers into renting a movie, video game, or TV show. However, there is an unresolved issue with respect to how trailers can be conveniently supplied to selective viewer homes. Present designs of ITV systems anticipate having hundreds to thousands of movies, video games, and TV shows stored at the headend. The trailers for these programs will also be stored at the headend. One approach is to transmit the hundreds to thousands of trailers in sequential order, repeating the transmission each time the full repertoire is exhausted. But, this large volume of unrelated trailers is not very manageable or meaningful to the viewer, and thus, not useful from a practical or marketing standpoint. Viewers might become bored watching multiple trailers in which they have no interest and, as a result, switch out of the VOD mode to another channel.
Movie viewers, in particular, are accustomed to browsing for video movies in video rental stores. Such stores offer hundreds to thousands of videos, but have them grouped according to different categories. For instance, videos are often grouped by kind, such as new releases, oldies, westerns, foreign films, family films, and so forth. Other groupings might be by actor/actress name, alphabetical order of title, or topic. These groupings assist a shopper in locating a section of interest within which the shopper can limit his/her search for a suitable video movie.
It would be nice to provide the convenient organization afforded by a video store in the ITV video-on-demand environment. Unfortunately, unlike a video store which has an abundance of physical floor space to present many different. movies, the ITV system only has the limited space available on a TV screen to present the options. Accordingly, it is one object of this invention to provide an ITV system that organizes video movies according to different categories and provides a manageable set of video trailers about the movies.
Another problem is that once the set of video trailers is provided, the viewer would like to scan the trailers at their own pace, skipping the unappealing ones and perhaps replaying the good ones. In today""s remote control TV world, viewers have become conditioned to quickly scanning television channels, one after another, often staying on a channel for only a few seconds. This practice is known as xe2x80x9cchannel surfingxe2x80x9d. It is another objective of this invention to enable a viewer to xe2x80x9csurfxe2x80x9d through the grouped video trailers at their own rate.
This invention provides an interactive entertainment network system with a video-on-demand (VOD) application that is like having a video store in your own home. Viewers are permitted to select criteria for grouping various video content programs (e.g., movies, games, TV shows, etc.) into manageable sets. Once grouped, preview video trailers for the set of programs are displayed. The VOD application permits the viewer to browse the trailers at their own rate, skipping forward to the next trailer or backward to the previous trailer. If the viewer settles on a particular program, the VOD application allows the user to rent the program immediately from the trailer being displayed on their television set, without returning to a menu or other order screen.
The interactive entertainment network system of this invention has a headend connected to multiple user interface units in individual homes via a distribution network, such as cable, RF, and/or satellite network. The headend provides full length video content programs and associated preview video trailers about the video content programs to the user interface units, which are commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cset-top boxesxe2x80x9d in the ITV arena.
The headend has a continuous media server database which stores the actual video data streams of both the full length video content programs and their associated preview video trailers. The video data streams are stored digitally as individual data files. Unique monikers are assigned to each program and trailer to locate them within the continuous media server database. The headend also has a program information database which maintains program data records pertaining to the video content programs. The program data records contain information about the programs, such as a program ID, title, moniker, cast members, director, rating, length of movie, brief description, and so on.
The program information database also contains information pertaining to Is each preview video trailer, such as its trailer ID and moniker. The program information database correlates the program IDs of the full length video content programs with the trailer IDs of the associated preview video trailers. In one implementation, this correlation is accomplished using a join table which interrelates the program and trailer IDs.
Each user interface unit has a processor and a video-on-demand (VOD) application which executes on that processor. The VOD application enables a user to select a group of programs from among all of the programs stored at the headend based upon a specified criteria, such as new releases, star name, title, customized viewer list, or any other definable criteria. The criteria is preferably presented as scrollable lists which the viewer can manipulate to select a certain criteria. In an example implementation, two lists can be presented simultaneously: a star list and a title list. The star list is first displayed, and upon selection of a star, a second list of movie titles in which the selected actor appears is displayed. The second list of movies provides an example manageable set of related video programs from which the viewer can choose.
Once a viewer actively selects a particular criteria, the user interface unit transmits a message containing that criteria to the headend over the distribution network. In response to the message, the headend searches the program information database using the criteria as a query to locate video content programs which meet the specified criteria. The search finds the program data records of the criteria-satisfying programs. The program IDs are extracted from the records and used to cross-reference via the join table to corresponding trailer IDs. The headend uses the trailer IDs to access other records which contain the trailer monikers of the preview video trailers for the video content programs that satisfy the viewer criteria.
As a result, the headend selectively groups a manageable set of preview video trailers for transmission to the requesting user interface unit. The headend transmits the program data records, including the program IDs and monikers and the trailer IDs and monikers. The headend also begins transmitting the set of preview video trailers in sequential order for display on the viewer""s television set. The transmission of the trailers can be automatic, or in response to the viewer actuating a xe2x80x9cpreviewxe2x80x9d icon.
The user interface unit has a memory which queues the trailer monikers and IDs in an order that corresponds to the sequential order in which the associated preview video trailers are to be displayed. A preview browse user interface executes on the user interface unit as part of the VOD application to facilitate display of the preview video trailers.
The preview browse user interface has actuatable control icon buttons which enable a user to skip from a presently displayed preview video trailer to another preview video trailer. In one implementation, the preview browse user interface has next/previous control buttons which enable a user to skip from a presently displayed preview video trailer to a next or previous preview video trailer. Upon actuation, a processor resident at the user interface unit sends to the headend a trailer moniker that is next or previous to the trailer moniker of the presently displayed preview video trailer relative to their queue order within the unit""s memory. The headend retrieves the next/previous trailer and begins transmitting it. To the viewer, this change appears nearly instantaneously, with little latency. The viewer therefore feels in control of the review rate, and is able to xe2x80x9csurfxe2x80x9d through the different previews.
The preview browse user interface also has an operable order icon overlaid on the displayed preview video trailer to enable the user to order the video content program that corresponds to the displayed preview video trailer. Upon ordering, the user interface unit sends a message containing the program moniker of the program associated with the displayed preview video trailer to the headend. The headend uses the program moniker to access the continuous media server database and retrieve the full length video content program. The headend transmits the full length video content program to the requesting user interface unit for display on the viewer""s television set.